Water prices to shoot up in Singapore

Singaporeans might have to shell out more as the water prices will soon shoot up and the rise will be announced in the budget.

The information regarding hike in water prices was made by Masagos Zulkifli, minister for the Environment and Water Resources while he was speaking during a visit to Tuas Desalination Plant in Singapore.

The reason for increasing the water prices is due to the higher costs of producing water and less reliable weather, the minister, said, “Going forward we are seeing higher costs in producing water. This is not just because of the plant. We also have to take in consideration urbanisation and therefore our pipes have to be dug even deeper.”

Water prices will shoot up in Singapore. Photo courtesy: sciencefestival

At the same time we are also looking at renewing old plants, old transmission pipes and this will definitely add costs to our operations,” he added.

However, he did not give information regarding how much water prices will be increased.

In Singapore, water tariffs are currently tiered, depending on whether it is for domestic, non-domestic or shipping use. For domestic users, there are two levels of tariffs (SGD 1.17 per cubic metre or SGD 1.40 per cubic metre), depending on consumption volume. Water conservation tax is 30 per cent of the tariff, before GST.

Water sources in Singapore are from local reservoirs, desalination, NEWAter and Malaysia. About half of Singapore’s requirement of water comes from Malaysia.

Author

Ashraf Jamal – Senior Writer

Ashraf Jamal brings a rare depth to writing equipped with a degree in journalism, a postgraduate degree in political science, and a degree in law from the Allahabad University. His experience includes editing and publishing the Northern India Patrika and writing for Times of India for almost a decade covering just about any topic under the sun including NRIs and Indian diaspora.